Tuesday, June 16, 2009

ABC goes MSNBC?

The White House press tank corps:
On June 24, Drudge reports, the network will broadcast from inside the White House to air a propaganda special for Obamacare.
Opposing voices will reportedly be excluded. ABC News says “thoughtful” and “diverse” points of view will be allowed. In other words: Shills of all colors!
Why compete to become the most mindlessly pro-Obama network? That's not news, it's publicity.

UPDATE: Via Memeorandum, conservative bloggers go ballistic: Riehl World View, Right Wing Nut House, Macsmind, QandO, Atlas Shrugs, Babalú Blog and The Jawa Report.

Remember 2002-04, when the "progressive netroots community" went off on a media establishment they felt were too eager to parrot the Bush administration's line on Iraq? The problem with reverse-engineering that -- which is what conservative bloggers must try to do now -- is that during the Bush administration, liberal bloggers had the advantage that 90% of the D.C. press corps had voted for Al Gore and John Kerry.

The hopelessly lopsided partisan commitments of the journalistic elite -- try a show of hands in the WH press corps, who voted Republican? -- have always been the secret weapons of the liberal blogosphere.

How many MSM reporters (Associated Press, NY Times, CBS News, etc.) ever read Hot Air or Instapundit? And how many of them sympathize? The typical MSM reporter sympathizes with Media Matters, DKos and Crooks & Liars. The typical MSM reporter watches Olbermann every night. The typical MSM reporter thinks Letterman's jokes about Palin are ROTFLMAO funny.

Most D.C. reporters, editors and producers hate Republicans, and that hatred matters.

UPDATE II: Speaking of hatred -- and via Little Miss Attila -- Pundette highlights the "two-minute hate" technique of the pro-Obama media machine, which includes institutions as diverse as the New York Times and the Comedy Central network.

It's the uncanny coordination of the messaging that makes the Obama media such an engine of terror to its enemies. This harkens back to the JournoList revelation. Once you understand that there is an actual network Democratic political operatives, liberal policy advocates, progressive bloggers and major media journalists connected via a single communications link, suddenly the modus operandi is no longer mysterious.

Jon Henke figured this out three years ago, really, and employed a phrase, "the eyes of the influentials" to describe what is at stake. It is not in my interest to explain everything I've deduced in the past three years based on Henke's insight, but let me say this: Offline private communications that the public never sees are as important as the stuff headlined at Drudge.

Think about that. Think about it hard. Because you can't beat what you don't understand.

UPDATE III: RNC chief of staff Ken McKay sends a letter to ABC News, gets a lame, snarky response.

A suggestion for Mr. McKay: How about you kick whoever's ass needs to be kicked in order to get an actual live blog on the RNC Web site? It hasn't been updated in 32 days.

Personnel is policy, and this business of assigning important communications operations to clueless do-nothing losers has got to stop.

UPDATE IV: Speaking of kicking ass, Jimmie Bise bloggregates the story at NTCNews.com.

UPDATE V: Welcome (again) Instapundit readers! Maybe he's trying to make up for the Allah-hate, but if Professor Reynolds keeps this up, Dr. Helen might become suspicious. At any rate, speaking of elites . . .

UPDATE V: Be sure to read down to the comments for good stuff like this from a Methodist pastor:
Is ABC still owned by Disney? Do they still do Fantasy World?
Yes, and soon they'll be promoting their new ride, "ObamaCare," which involves a lot of standing in line . . . it's scary, but not exactly a thrill.

20 comments:

  1. Thanks for the link and sage words. I updated and linked to you.

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  2. Back when I worked for 20/20, I met with Av Westin, the father of the current nepotistic nerd-in-charge. Like all nerds, the Westins are socialists who hate individual excellence since the family possesses none of it themselves. Ditto for the other networks, all holding tanks for third-rate "journalists" with little or no clue as to how a business works.

    Sadly, I doubt John Stoessel will be in the Blue Room. Probably Diane Sawyer, who worked in the Nixon WH before she defected and other refugees from excellence who infest the ABC newsroom.

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  3. ""Personnel is policy, and this business of assigning important communications operations to clueless do-nothing losers has got to stop.""

    Good grief, McCain! Cut it out already! You're making the beltway RNC crowd look bad!

    Amen to your post. The RNC establishment is so blatantly out of touch with poltical reality that it's unbearable.

    The progressive netroots infrastructure is light-years ahead of the GOP organization, and they do nothing about it---ok, wait---the RNC Chairman is comparing the GOP to a "hat".

    Ugh....

    Is anyone home at RNC headquarters?

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  4. I hope the majority of America sees this 'show' for what it really is. Wake up, people!!

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  5. ugh, you whiny little bitches.
    at what point do you stop blaming your paranoid delusions of "media bias" and recognize your party for what it is?( that would be a bunch of whiny little bitches).
    I don't understand your complaints: it would be like me complaining that Drudge doesn't offer enough pro-Obama links.
    Drudge can do whatever he wants, and so can ABC.
    Free effing country!

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  6. @Y4E,
    "Free country" in the sense of a sporting event where everyone can play.
    When you start to notice the referees putting on one team's uniforms, things are going just a bit dodgy.

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  7. The Kremlin never had this much party discipline. Its as Mao sent them all to
    reeducation camps.

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  8. Here's a link to a site that shows photos of the insignia worn by the Royal Tank Corps:

    http://www.geocities.com/Pentagon/Base/1545/WWI/Main/Misc/TcBadge.htm

    Somehow it seems like it would be appropriate to hand these out to the members of the press, particularly since the tank portrayed is old, obsolete and useless except as a historical curiosity.

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  9. An example. Nancy Pelosi says the CIA lies to Congress. Leon Panetta says it's not true, and three weeks later, when the controversy hasn't fully died down, Panetta is out saying Cheney wants the country to be attacked.

    That's as pure as an example of liberal messaging as you're going to get. Now they have something to contrast with Pelosi's comments, and the meme is reported dutifully by the MSM. Bonnie Erbe from US News is out agreeing with Panetta, while every news service carries the story (even while the CIA now claims that's not what he meant).

    Meanwhile, House Republicans try to pass an amendment to determine if the CIA lied, and only Fox carries the event. Rob Bishop gets coverage in local Utah papers, but nothing from the mainstream.

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  10. While I believe the FEC is rather feckless, how is this not a huge inkind contribution by ABC to a politician?

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  11. thanks to CNBC I now know more about Obama's fly killing ability than I do about his plans to regulate every facet of our nations economy.

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  12. Y4E...You realize there are more than just two political parties in America, right? Some of us are neither Republican or Democrat, but realize the MSM are in the tank for Barry H. Christ.

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  13. Ignore Y4e, more than likely just another Axelrod astroturf poster. They've been infecting conservative blogs, sort of like cockroaches.

    You can always tell them by the lack of substance to anything they post, coupled with the gratuitous name calling.

    -Blake

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  14. I'm sorry, but there's no secret cabal of journalists cooperating with the liberal blogosphere.

    There's a cabal ... but it's no secret. They're operating quite out in the open. And they're defeating you because you aren't paying attention to what the game is.

    How many - show of hands - White House Press Corps are members of Journolist?

    The game is about purchasing media to control the message. Conservatives won't put their money where their beliefs are, so they've forfeited the high ground.

    They deserve to lose.

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  15. ABC has promised a diversity of opinions on Obama taking over the health care industry: whether it is a stupendous idea or merely tremendous.

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  16. It's not news that the MSM is the propaganda wing of the Democratic Party. And they clearly influence the mushy middle of the electorate who decide elections.

    The question I've been asking for the last ten years is -- "What is the gameplan to overcome the impact of the MSM?" I'm still waiting for any prominent conservative or Republican to spell one out. Except perhaps Hugh Hewitt who's plan is to wait for the long, slow death of the dinosaur.

    There are ways to get the message out to the mushy middle, but no one on the right seems interested. Blogs and talk radio aren't getting it done. The target audience isn't getting news from either.

    So the basic plan seems to be complaining and waiting for Godot to show up.

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  17. Is ABC still owned by Disney? Do they still do Fantasy World?

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  18. 'They deserve to lose.' Bur do the American people? The Fourth Estate used to be on the side of the governed, not the governors - that is their function in a democracy. Who stands with the working people of this country to illuminate the elites' control of the political process?

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  19. This post and all the comments simply whine, without offering any solutions. For those looking for an actual solution. there's a relatively easy way to both oppose BHO/the Dems and to undercut the MSM. Organize groups to engage nationally-known opponents in debate about issues. Videos of their responses can then be uploaded to Youtube. That's the smart way to do things, but instead of helping promote the smart way to do things, supposed BHO opponents only encourage you to wave loopy signs on street corners like ACORN.

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  20. "When you start to notice the referees putting on one team's uniforms, things are going just a bit dodgy."

    Um, yeah....I wonder what uniform Fox"News" is wearing? What uniform do you think Drudge goes to sleep in?
    This is all like the baseball player who blames the glove for the missed catch: the " MSM" canard is one that you hapless snivelers have fallen for, hook line and sinker.
    It astounds me how you whiners can easily move from complaining about "MSM" bias yet happily defend the joke that is Fox "News".
    The problem is clearly that the Republican message no longer resonates with society today.
    Go back to the drawing board and get the sand out of your vaginas....

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